Star Fox Among Darkness
by SavageKiller
Summary: In a bid to end his nightmares, Fox and his team, along with a squad Cornerian soldiers, go out into the darkest region of Lylat to find the source of his agony.
1. Prologue

Fox opened his eyes groggily, unsure of where he was. For about a minute his eyesight began to clear and he now had a better look at his surroundings. His private office in the Great Fox. He looked down at the time on his watch and saw it was quite early.

"Hmm, must have fallen out." he said tiredly.

Fox got up out of his chair and went straight for bathroom to wash his face off. He turned the faucet to hot and splashed some water in his face. It did the job at getting him more "up" than he was seconds ago.

He looked at the mirror in front of himself one last time and was about to walk out, but he noticed something… odd. He walked back over to look at the mirror again. His eye color was different now; not the normal jade green color they always were. They were purple now.

"What the hell?" he said, dumbfounded by what he is looking at. Fox decided to have a closer inspection of one of his eyes. He would soon regret it. Fox brought his right eye a bit closer to the mirror for a better look and gently pushed down on his eyelid. At that second, something sharp pierced his skin.

"OW! Fuck!" he immediately removed his finger to see that it was bleeding. Something bit him. Terrified, yet determined, he looked back at the mirror to see what it was. To his own horror, a small parasite was hiding inside his eye and defended itself.

"Wh-what the-" then, out of nowhere, pain took over. "GAH!"

Fox held his head in pain, the parasite was in his head now. The amount of pain Fox was feeling was immeasurable.

" _Obey"_

A voice spoke to him. Fox was truly terrified, he knew that voice.

" _Obey Us"_

"No… AH, huh?" now pain erupted from his right arm, as if he had been stabbed by a hundred needles all at the same time. He removed his glove to witness in horror as his arm began to deform into a dark claw before his eyes.

" _Obey. There is no resistance. Obey"_ was repeated over and over in his head.

"No… I won't!"

" _You must obey!"_ the voice got louder.

"No!"

" _OBEY!"_

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

 _*GASP*_ Fox woke up in sweat and was breathing profusely. He darted around to see that he was in his living quarters. He looked down at his right arm; all orange fur, skin, muscle. He wasn't done yet. Fox jumped out of his bed to look into the bathroom mirror again. Nothing, his eyes were back to the green color they always were. With that Fox sighed in relief.

"It was... just a nightmare..." he said to himself. It all felt so real to him, he just couldn't believe it. Fox turned the faucet _again_ to wipe his face off. He looked back up at the mirror. Still the same, no change in eye color or anything.

"Thank god…"

With that, he shut off the lights and went back to his bed. He sat down and paused to look back at his arm again, stretching and cracking his fingers in the process. The chilling thought of being infected by 'them' sent a chill down his spine.

"They are gone Fox…" he said to himself, "they are all gone."

Fox layed back down in the bed, but remained awake. He repeated that sentence many times over and over, about 'them' being gone. But even he knew, somewhere in the darkness of Lylat, 'they' are still out there. Watching. Waiting.

After a few minutes, Fox finally began to drift back to sleep. Only a small whisper was heard in the room.

"... obey….."


	2. Chapter 1

Fox walked down the long corridor towards the bridge of the Great Fox, still thinking about the nightmare he had last night. How terrified he was. His thoughts quickly ended once he bumped into Krystal.

"Oh! Sorry…" he said, a little embarrassed.

"It's alright Fox." she said to him kindly. He was about to continue on until she paused him for a second.

"Fox?" she asked.

"What?"

"Is something bothering you?" she asked. Fox opened his mouth to say something but paused. He finally answered.

"N-nothing. Nothing is wrong." he answered. She didn't believe him, obviously being a telepath and all.

"Fox… you had a nightmare didn't you." she said.

"Well… y-yeah, I did." he said, "But it was just nightmare, so… I'm fine."

"I hope so." she said with a slight hint of worry in her voice. With that she turned back the other way and left Fox alone in the hallway. Fox sighed to himself, he never really said what happened in his dream to her. He decided to let it be and continued on to the bridge.

A small wisp was made by the door as it slid open for Fox to enter. No one else was inside aside from ROB, who was busy on one of the terminals. The others were more than likely in their living quarters or training in simulations.

Fox walked up to his chair in the center of the room and sat down. On the outside of the view windows was a beautiful view of Corneria, along with Katina which was further away. There were no jobs available for Star Fox to do at the moment, so there was nothing left better to do than enjoy a view of the planets he and his team help to protect for so long. A couple minutes in and Fox began feeling tired. He checked his watch, it was evening.

"I could use the nap." with that Fox closed his eyes and let himself drift.

Fox woke up from his nap and checked his watch again, apparently more than three hours have passed by.

"Well then…" he said dumbfoundedly. That was some nap he had.

He looked back up at the view window to see nothing but darkness. No Corneria, no Katina, nothing. Not even any stars were visible.

"What the?" he got out of his chair to check one of the terminals to see where they are located. But the terminal didn't work. He went to check the other one next to it, it was dead too. He eventually gave up and went to the door, but it wouldn't open.

"ROB, are you and Slippy running a systems check?"

No answer.

"ROB?" he looked around to see that ROB was nowhere to be found. He was all alone in the bridge. Fox decided to try and force the door open. He placed his fingers in crack and began to pull it the opposite direction.

As he was pulling, a dim, blue shade of light engulfed the whole bridge from the outside. Fox noticed this and turned around to see what it was. As if it just appeared from out of nowhere, a blue planet was in center view. At first, he thought it was Aquas, but this planet seemed… different. Fox was even more confused.

Then, he heard a whisper.

" _Come home…"_

Fox looked around to see where it came from, "Wha- who's there?"

" _Come home."_

Fox ignored it and tried pulling the door open again. But once he got back at it, pain erupted from his chest.

"GAH!" he dropped to his knees and held both arms around his chest. It was as if something was about to burst out of him from the inside. He slowly began to remove his vest. Another burst came.

"GAH… ah…" Fox fell to his side, one hand clutching his chest, he was in complete agony. He had no idea what was happening. Tears began to form in his eyes.

" _Obey..."_

Another burst of pain hit him. "AH!... N-no…"

" _Obey…"_

Fox felt another hard push in his chest along with the sound of cracking bones. He screamed in pain as whatever it was inside him made one final push to exit his body.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" all he heard was a loud piercing screech.

 _*GASP*_ Fox woke up and fell out of his chair. He was breathing profusely and had sweat over his face. He frantically placed his hands on his chest. No blood, no wound, nothing. He was breathing really fast, horrified of what he had seen and felt. He slowly sat back up against the chair and tried to slow his breathing.

After a minute, he started breathing normally. He looked up at the view windows. Corneria and Katina were back where they were; and the strange planet was gone. He checked his watch. Only less than half an hour had passed in real time. A shadow loomed over him. It was ROB.

" _Fox, are you okay?_ _"_ the android asked.

"Y-yeah, I'm alright…" he said still shaken up.

" _Priority: I shall inform the rest of Star Fox and General_ _-_ "

"NO!" he stopped the android, "Don't. Tell. Anyone. Please ROB…" the android paused for a few seconds.

" _Priority revised: I shall not inform the others as you command._ _"_ ROB moved back to one of the terminals. Fox sighed in relief and stood back up, yet he was still shaken up by the nightmare. He went straight for the door, but stopped once it opened up and Falco walked in.

"Hey Fox." he replied. Fox didn't answer and walked past him.

"Hey, something wrong man?" he said slightly angered by Fox's rude gesture. Fox didn't even look back at him and continued on down the long hallway. "What the hell is his problem?" Falco said with folded arms.


End file.
